English translation:Walking in the mistAlone in the deep silenceCan´t see any cairnsGone are all the housesI call out but no one answersIn between the gapsIn the mist-clad nightI sense shadowsSeems as though something is moving thereI call out but no one answers meFriend, friend can you see meWalking here in the mistHave you wandered as I haveIn the silence deep as deathDid you see the street lightsShining in the villageDid you see what they did thereDo you remember what the state of things wereWas anyone looking for meFriend, friend can you see meWalking here in the mistHave you wandered as I haveIn the silence deep as deathHave you as I haveWalked in the mistStrayed from the beaten pathNear the mountain edgeDo you know this lonelinessFriend, friend do you understand meDo you know any secret pathHave you wandered as I havein the endless uncertaintyFriend, friend do you understand meDon´t you know any secret pathHave you wandered as I haveIn the endless mist

Sunday, February 26, 2017

For his series Filling Spaces, Florentine illustrator, digital artist, and set designer Federico Picci used pink balloons to illustrate how something unseen moves around us. His artist statement is simple but eloquent:

"This concept started as a personal study on the connection between light and space. I tried to show how something immaterial like music can fill the room with his beauty."

I've often wondered what it would be like to see musical notes floating through the air--to see them issuing forth from an instrument or a speaker and how they would move towards us in space, dissipating as they travel...

Thursday, February 23, 2017

"Gold is the latest in David Spriggs’ chromatic artwork series of Stratachromes that examine contemporary symbolic meanings of color. Spriggs’ monumental installation presents eleven inverted yellow-golden human figures painted on layers of transparent sheets that are hung within an inverted pyramid structure. Initially reminiscent of the pediment of the New York Stock Exchange, Gold, in the spirit of pittura infamante (defaming portrait) turns the glory of capitalism on its apex, revealing its current precarious state. It speaks to the widening inequity within the Global Wealth Pyramid and the concentration of excessive wealth and corresponding power into the hands of a select few.

It is fitting that this provocative art work is on display in the central business district in downtown Pittsburgh, also known as the Golden Triangle. This historic location dates back to the gilded age. It is to that age the nation’s current political leadership seek’s to return, in their quest to remake the current America into some idolized great state. But is that even possible or is such a return an illusion? And if not an illusion, will the result be to repeat that period’s excesses and failures?

The viewer may be unsettled by the mirage-like-forms and suggestively paganic imagery. Is this intensely-saturated golden color representative of fools or of wealth? Yet we note that the figures of the artwork are not engaged in various forms of industry, in service to a central Goddess of Commerce, but rather are subservient, aloof or apart. Such is the relationship of many with today’s economy.

Friday, February 17, 2017

Italian interior and retail design company Visual Display helped to create a magical hidden cocktail bar in the city of Udine in northeastern Italy. Called Mr. Simon - Botanico Alchimista, the invitation-only bar is in a secret location, behind a restaurant and accessed through its bathroom and broom closet. After receiving the invitation, one is given the address and access code (which changes daily). One must find the restaurant and enter the access code into a white vintage telephone on a wall. Once approved, one slips through a secret door in the aforementioned bathroom and broom closet, where one must ring the bell on a door in a cement wall. And that is how to enter the exclusive 25-seat, 540 sq.ft. cocktail lounge that is the dark and dramatic home of one fictitious Mr. Simon, an esteemed botanical alchemist who has traveled the world collecting curiosities, tinctures and recipes for his sizable menu of artisanal cocktails. I love that the entrance vestibule is papered in Piero Fornasetti's cloud wallcovering. And the sparkling bathroom covered in beveled mirror subway tiles is spectacular.

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Belgian photographer Patrick Van Roy took photos of commuters on public transportation in countries throughout Europe for his Mises en scène involontaires series. Van Roy says, "The images show the involuntary theatrical scenes in which each person takes part every day...The almost ghostly attitude of the people photographed illustrates a feeling of solitude despite the fact and often because the figures themselves are in a busy public place. There is a feeling of sadness and that they and indeed we all are alone."

About Me

About "Oh, By The Way"

"Oh, By The Way" is my digital scrap book of things I like, things I would share with a close friend and say: “Oh, by the way, do you know of this artist/ clothing or interior designer/ model/ singer/ actor/ gorgeous man… or, have you seen this video/ photo/ film... or heard (or do you remember) this song/ band... or, read this book/ poem/ inspiring quote... or, visited this place/ restaurant/ famous building... or, have you heard of this amazing new scientific discovery?”

I am dedicated to posting the positive, the fascinating, the beautiful, the interesting, the moving, and the inspiring and uplifting. Sometimes I post cultural as well as personal observations, milestones, and remembrances. And just like life, all of these things may often have a bit of melancholy or even sadness in them, which is what makes our time here so lovely and bittersweet and precious.

Some of the photos, art, poetry, and prose are my own original work, credited with my initials, JEF. When it isn't, I always try to post links to the original source material, but often I find photos on the web that are not linked or other material that is not sourced. In these instances, I post them without malice since it is assumed that such things, by being globally posted on something as uncontrollable as the internet to begin with, are in the public domain. If you identify the source of an image that is not linked, please politely let me know (without accusing me of theft) and I will be happy to provide a link.

I hope to inspire and entertain my readers with things that inspire and entertain me. There is a startling amount of beauty and creativity in the world and it enriches us all to participate in it.

All-time Favorite Films

2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)

After Hours (Hysterical, hair-raising ride through NYC at night)

Amelie

American Beauty (Alan Ball)

Baraka (Stunning, transcending—the "spiritus mundi" on film)

Belle et Bete (Cocteau)

Big Sleep, The (The epitome of film noir)

Bringing Up Baby (Hepburn & Grant—the epitome of screwball comedy)

Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover, The (Greenaway)

Crash (Cronenberg—DIFFICULT subject, not for everyone)

Don’t Look Now (Nicolas Roeg—ultimate modern gothic horror)

Drowning By Numbers (Greenaway)

Easy Rider

Edward II (Derek Jarman)

Erendira (From magic realist Marquez’ brilliant short story)

Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick's last film)

Fearless (Jeff Bridges—life and death)

Funny Bones (Leslie Caron, Jerry Lewis, and the brilliant Lee Evans)

Holiday (Hepburn & Grant)

Howard’s End (The ultimate statement of the unfairness of class systems)